Hospitality and catering Department

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The Food Technology Department is a busy, vibrant and popular department. The focus is to promote a love of cooking whilst acquiring the knowledge and skills through practical work to become a competent cook and to gain success at GCSE level. The aim is to embrace and celebrate success for all in a creative “can do” environment where a positive attitude is seen as the only option.

In Year 7, 8 and 9, students are taught the key concepts of Designing, Making, Cultural Understanding, Creativity and Critical evaluation, all of which support the understanding of Design & Technology. A range of recipes is provided which may be adapted to suit individual needs. Students’ work is continually assessed in Years 7, 8 and 9. Practical work is at the heart of this subject, students’ progress throughout the key stage, with recipes becoming more involved and skilful; from vegetable soup to Hurry in a Curry in year 7, to an iron rich homemade pizza and learning how to make a roux sauce in year 8. Year 9 students study Party Foods and explore product development and environmental issues.

At GCSE level, we offer WJEC Catering, WJEC Hospitality and the opportunity for pupils to be entered for both examinations to gain a double award (WJEC Hospitality and Catering). The Catering course covers commodities, nutrition and menu planning. There are two practical examinations of two hours and a theory paper. The coursework for Hospitality involves working in a group to plan and cater for an event of the pupils’ choice and there is a theory paper. Pupils will wear “chefs whites” for their practical sessions.

BTEC Level 1/2 Home Cooking Skills:This course allows students to gain a basic understanding of how the hospitality industry functions, including basic concepts such as; customer service, food hygiene and cookery, as well as legal responsibilities.​Key stage 5: Food Science and Nutrition Entry Pathways (WJEC)﻿This is an exciting, new course which explores food related issues and food production skills. You will learn how to interpret recipes so that you can plan how to prepare a menu. You will develop a range of advanced food production skills so that you can work with a range of commodities and present them to restaurant standard. You will learn the science behind food from nutritional value to how food needs to be stored, handled, prepared and cooked correctly to ensure its consumption does not affect people’s health.